Subtle design shifts

Pickup trucks make up about 20% of General Motors' U.S. sales, so when GM redesigns those trucks, it's a big deal. Well, GM has just unveiled it s all-new Chevrolet Silverado for GMC Sierra trucks. The one shown here is the Sierra.

You can be forgiven if you don't recognize, right off, that these are completely redesigned trucks. The changes in appearance are, as GM puts it, "evolutionary." In other words, Silverado and Sierra owners like their trucks and GM designers didn't want to mess that up.

The big changes are new engines and a few technological additions that make these trucks easier to live with and drive. Price and fuel economy figures will be available closer to the date when the trucks will go on sale next summer.